NEW LONDON — A New London woman accused of badly beating another woman in June in a Norwich nightclub will avoid prison as a result of a plea bargain.

Ivie Cluff, 30, pleaded no contest Monday in New London Superior Court to a charge of second-degree assault.

A no-contest plea means Cluff does not admit guilt, but agrees to accept punishment.

Cluff was sentenced to two years in prison, fully suspended, and three years’ probation.

Assistant State’s Attorney Thomas DeLillo said that at about 1:15 a.m. on June 9, Norwich police were called to Bella Notte nightclub on West Thames Street after getting a telephone call reporting a disturbance.

Cluff beat another woman using a bottle, police said, cutting her face, breaking her nose, causing a concussion, separating her shoulder and forcing her to the ground.

Assistant Public Defender Cynthia Love, who represents Cluff, wrote in an Oct. 24 motion to dismiss the case that police were told a verbal argument had started among “a large group of women and that, because of the large number of patrons in the club, there was concern there could be a problem at closing.”

When closing time was announced at 1 a.m., “there was a commotion and a large fight in the club,” Love said.

Love wrote that the club’s security and police removed Cluff from the club “after she was shoved into the complainant by unknown persons, and was then detained in handcuffs in a Norwich Police Department cruiser for several minutes while police attempted to subdue the fighting inside the nightclub.”

The woman who was beaten and a witness identified Cluff as the attacker, Love said.

However, the attorney said, police got the nightclub’s surveillance video showing the fight but later discarded it.

Love said that a representative with Bella Notte’s insurer told prosecutors that Cluff “was seen in the video but not involved in the fight.”

Love’s motion to dismiss the charge against Cluff claimed that because of the missing video footage, Cluff could not get a fair trial. The motion would have been ruled on if Cluff had not accepted the plea deal.